Gregor the Overlander Redone
by Uzumaki Natsuki
Summary: What if, Gregor was born a few years earlier, with a slight change in chromosome? The result? A sixteen year old, female Gregor. These slight alterations change the fate of the Underland forever. K for some language.


Gregor sighed as she rested her head back on the screen. For being so far north, it could get really hot in New York. The heat, combined with her boredom served to make her irritable. Why wasn't she doing something productive, she was sixteen damnit, and should be working a summer job to support her family!

When she heard a cry from the back room the apartment, the only one with air conditioning, she remembered. She needed to watch Boots, her two year old sister, who, as intelligent as she was for her age, was incapable of taking care of herself, and her grandmother who was becoming frailer by the day. Gregor was scared that she would just waste away, leaving them a husk of the once strong, independent women Gregor never meet herself but knew from her father's stories.

At the thought of her father, Gregor felt a pang go through her heart. She was daddy's little princess, and felt his disappearance two and a half years ago as keenly a stab wound still. No matter what rumors went around, she refused to believe that he just up and left her and her family for another woman. As much as it pained her, she would rather he be dead then gone off having an affair.

Gregor shoved her thoughts away when she heard Boots cry again, so she pushed her self away from the screen door and went to get her little sister. As she stepped into the room, Boots head appeared above the crib her curly mahogany hair in disarray. "Ge-go, me out!" She demanded and, after sticking the soggy tail of her stuffed dog in her mouth, lifted her hands up. Gregor complied, and after she put Boots on the ground she said, "Hey Boots, I'm gonna go to the library. Wanna come?"

Of course, she would take Boots regardless, because Mrs. Cormaci only agreed to sit with her Grandma at four, not baby sit Boots as well. She was originally going to stay, but she was overcome by a sudden need to leave her tiny apartment. She needed to finish her English paper, anyway. "Ye-es!" Boots replied and, beaming, ran off to put her shoes on.

Gregor shook her head fondly. "I'm going out Grandma. Do you want anything? Some root beer perhaps?" But her grandma was lost in her head, mumbling something about Virginia, where she grew up, and someone named Simon. Who the hell was Simon? With that final thought she pulled the blankets tighter around her Grandmother, _were her hands always this cold?, _kissed her forehead and went to gather her things.

She picked up her messenger bag, which doubled as her backpack during the school years. She took out all her school stuff except for her math stuff, and kept her water bottle she keeps in their for her gymnastics and track classes after school. She put in her laptop, won from a scholarship when she was a freshman in high school two years ago. She was going to become a junior in a few months, which meant deciding on which colleges to apply to.

This brought a whole slew of problems she would rather not think of. What would her family do without her? Lizzie was only seven; she couldn't take care of Boots and Grandma. Her mother was hardly home as it was, working hard to support them and she was Lizzie and Boot's primary caretaker. Her teachers understood, and that is why she was allowed to arrive later than most students, so she could make sure her sisters were fed and dressed and dropped off at school and Mrs. Cormaci's respectively before she dashed to school. And she was allowed to leave early to pick Lizzie up from school and get Boots from Mrs. Cormaci's. She assisted Lizzie in doing her homework, not that she really needed any help, while simultaneously doing her own. Then she would cook dinner usually something simple like scrambled eggs, hot dogs, hamburgers, and meatloaf and such. She would leave some in the oven for her mom who usually came home exhausted around eleven every night, only to be out of the apartment by seven. Sundays, her mother's only day off, was usually spent catching up on sleep and chores before the cycle started again. How could she just up and leave? But this was a problem for another day; she needed to keep her head in the here and now.

She grabbed her keychain, which contained her library card and a nifty little LED flashlight her friend Larry gave her. It also had the school pictures of her and Lizzie and a family picture with Grandma and Boots. Gregor scrutinized her picture, taken at the beginning of last the school year. Her friend Angelina swore to haven and back that she was downright gorgeous when she tried. Looking at the picture Gregor didn't see anything really pretty about herself. Her hair was auburn, but not noticeably so. It leaned more towards a honey brown, except when she was in sunlight, where it to turned passably red. Her eyes were her best feature, in her opinion. They were intense malachite green, inherited from her maternal grandfather, though he died before she was born. But her face was pinched with exhaustion and stress, making her look older then her sixteen years.

Gregor sighed and tossed her keys into the bag along with her comfort book Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. She practically knew the book by heart, but it was her favorite in the series. She closed the flap and changed her clothes. She discarded her pajamas she wore around the house and changed into a pair of jean shorts, which were her winter jeans cut, that showed off her long toned legs from hours of gymnastics and track. Her top was her favorite Yankees tank top and a jacket because she knew from experience how cold the library could be.

She was about to grab a pair of sandals but on second thought exchanged them for a sturdier pair of sneakers. God forbid she needed to run from some creep with Boots and fell and twisted her ankle. You could never be too safe in New York City. On that pleasant thought she took along her Swiss army pocket knife, a gift from her friend Larry's parents when they heard about their being stalked on the way back from a Saturday night at the movies.

She slipped her iPod, her one splurge she bought for herself from years of saving scraps of money, into her pocket and left to get Boot who was valiantly fighting to put her left shoe on her right foot. Gregor chuckled and put it on for her. She smiled in return to Boots adorable beaming face. As she straightened up she spied her mother's note reminding her to do the laundry. Cursing under her breath, she told Boots "Before we go, we need to do some laundry. OK?" At Boots enthusiastic "Ye-es", she turned and gathered up all of the dirty laundry baskets and dumped them into the main bag and placed the detergent on top before slinging it over her shoulder. She called Boots and opened the door to come face to face with Mrs. Cormaci who had just raised her hand to knock.

"Perfect timing, Mrs. Cormaci. Boots and I were just about to head out. We should be back around six, we're heading to the library after we put the load in. Will you be fine with Grandma?" Mrs. Cormaci nodded and opened her moth to say something else but Gregor cut her off. "And, no, I do not want you to read my tarot cards thank you. Help yourself to a drink in the fridge, Grandma likes root beer."

With that Gregor spun on her heel and headed after Boots who was already making her way down the stairs. Once they reached the laundry room, Gregor lost herself in the mundane repetition of sorting clothes into darks and whites. Boots was content playing with her purple ball that was the same color as the marker all over her hands.

Gregor noticed her diaper in need of a change, and promised to remedy it when they reached the library. Good thing the basement always had a stack on hand. After starting the wash, she slung her bag across her shoulder and looked for Boots. For a moment, she was confused as to where the toddler might be, before worry began to creep into her mind.

Boots loved plugs, and one time she was down here she got a nasty electrical burn on her wrist from where she played with the wrong plug and it sparked. The medical bill was horrible and Gregor's family went without electricity for a while to pay it. Gregor caught sight of one of Boots sandals sticking out from a grate. She went over to pick it up and pull Boots back, when she saw that instead of seeing the back of a dryer or a cement wall, it veered down at an almost 90 degree angle and had a curious white mist coming from it.

She saw Boots lean down and fall in, almost in slow motion. With a speed that surprised even her she lunged forward and managed to catch Boots. What she did not expect, however, was the heavy metal grate swinging back, catching her in the behind and pushing her forward. She tumbled head first into the hole with Boots still held tight to her chest.

For a minute, as they free fell, she was caught by a strong surge of fear. She was terrified of heights and, by extension falling. She had nightmares as long as she could remember of her falling to her death off of the empire state building and other skyscrapers, and her mind flashed to images of her body splitting upon the ground, her life ended tragically short with nobody knowing where they are and Boots all alone…Boots! She had to save Boots. She twisted herself so she would land on her back with Boots safely on top of her, when she realized that the white vapors form earlier where getting thicker. The thought crossed her mind that they were poisonous carbon monoxide fumes caused by pollution or something but quickly discarded the idea. Instead it looked like it was… slowing their fall?

And so it was. Gregor then adjusted her position so she would land on her feet and after and undetermined amount of time later, it could have been seconds or hours, Gregor didn't know, and hit the ground hard, but not enough to break any bones. As it was, her ankle was jarred roughly and may have been sprained, she wasn't sure. Years of gymnastics, however, kept her on her feet and stopped her from stumbling. She pushed the pain of her ankle in the back of her mind with the skill of a runner and turned her attention to the matter at hand.

Had they really just fallen from a hole in the floor of their decrepit laundry room? A quick pinch told her she wasn't dreaming and Boots said "More, Ge-go. Again! Again!" "Not right now, baby girl. Maybe later." Gregor know that was a lie, there was no way in hell anyone could pay her enough money to fall that far again. Suddenly realizing she could not see, she fumbled for her keychain in her bag and turned on the flashlight. As the beam cut through the gloomy darkness, Gregor saw something moving in the shadows. Turning to face it, she let out a shriek when her flashlight reviled a giant cockroach. And when she said giant, she didn't mean a couple of inches longer than normal, she meant the roach was four feet high. Granted it was sitting on its hind legs, very much like a dog, but the thing was nearly as tall as she was. "Ge-go, it's a beeg bug." "Yeah, Boots, a really big bug." Gregor said faintly.

Another pinch confirmed she still wasn't dreaming. Boots wiggled out of her arms and ran towards the roach. With a curse, Gregor ran after her. Roaches weren't supposed to eat people, but then again, they also weren't supposed to be be four feet tall either. As the roach moved towards Boots, Gregor almost had a heart attack when she realized there were hundreds of more cockroaches behind the one she initially saw. And she almost had a brain aneurism when the roach spoke.

"What smells so good, what smells_?" 'Sure, why not. If I can fall through the basement of my apartment and a bug can grow to four feet, they its only logical that they can talk'._ Pointedly ignoring the slightly hysterical edge her thoughts had taken, she decided how best to answer. Now it wants to know what smell so good what smells. Gregor took a deep breath and instantly regretted it.

Only one thing in the world smelt like that. "Ge-go, I poop!" Boots announced proudly, right on time. Gregor grimaced and turned to face the front cockroach, who she assumed was the leader. "Sorry, my sister still isn't potty trained and she just, ahh, relieved herself." Despite who, or rather what, she was talking to, she still managed to feel embaressed. Gregor mentally berated herself for not bringing Boots's diaper bag. "You be mother of the princess, you be? The roach said. Gregor blinked blankly until she realized that the bug was referring to Boots as the princess.

Her mind worked to comprehend it, before going on the safer route and just taking everything a face value. "Sister, actually." She said to the bug that then made a series of clicking noises to the roaches behind them. After having a lengthy discussion, if the noise did in fact mean they were communicating, the lead bug turned back to Gregor and said, "You go to the underlanders, you go?" "Huh?" Gregor responded intelligently. The roach tried again. "You go with other humans, you go?" The revelation hit Gregor with the force of a bomb. There were other humans down in this weird place! If anyone new the way back to New York, it would be them.

In her haste to answer, she raised her voice a bit too loud and the bug flinched. Apologizing, Gregor tried again. "If you could take us to the humans it would be very much appreciated. Can you?" At the bugs nod, Gregor felt her heart soar. Maybe they could get back before anyone noticing they were gone. "Will princess ride, will princess?" Gregor was hesitant, but Boots had no such inhibitions. She clambered onto the roaches back. And it was for the best, Gregor could not run very long while hold her, especially on a sprained ankle. The bug offered her a ride, but Gregor declined. She still was not convinced she wouldn't squish them.

Gregor took off after them at a steady jog, which increased steadily as the bugs gained speed. Who know bugs could move so fast! At first Gregor tried to create a mental map, but quickly gave up and concentrated her efforts of keeping up. She ignored the throbbing of her ankle. After about twenty minutes, Gregor was aware of the light at the end of the tunnel. At first she thought she as imagining it, but when she switched off her flashlight, she could still see. She put the keychain into a side pocket of her bag and, taking a deep breath to calm her suddenly erratic nerves. She had the unsettling feeling that once she stepped through, something big would happen and not necessarily for the best. Pushing the feelings away, she scooped Boots hand into hers and stepped through the opening and into the light, and gasped at the sight in front of her.


End file.
